Verified Ill
by Laurie B
Summary: Lyle House. It looks like an overly decorated dollhouse to me. I know why I’m here, I’d figured them out practically the first day I’d gotten here.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I read The Summoning and The Awakening and I loved them! Since it's going to be a while until The Reckoning is released, I decided to write a fanfic. I don't know if it's any good, but I'm having fun writing it. Just so you know, these are not _my_ opinions of the characters, they're the character Vera's. So, please leave a review so I can fix any mistakes I've made! I'm trying to keep it as close to the book I can, I just added another character.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own, nor have I written, any of the books from the Darkest Powers series.**

Breakfast Lyle House. It looks like an overly decorated dollhouse to me. I know why I'm here, I'd figured them out practically the first day I'd gotten here.

My plan: get out…how though, I hadn't figured out yet.

I made fast friends with two of the "patients" Simon and Derek. No, not because I'm attracted to either of them, but because everyone else here is so clueless.

Simon is okay. He's gotten pretty good at using his powers. Derek, well, he kind of fails at being a werewolf in my opinion. Although we were friends, we were really good at getting on each other's nerves. He says that we're not supposed to Change until we're older. That may be true, but I've been Changing for a few years now.

Apparently some new girl came some time yesterday named Chloe. I'm roughly seven months older than her, but you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at us. I'm your average brown-haired, blue-eyed fifteen-year-old. She's a little blond with stupid red streaks in her hair. I think they're supposed to make her look older, but she still looks twelve.

The nurses came around with our pills when we started eating. We all dutifully held out our hands to receive them. Chloe just stared at them like she didn't know what they were.

I never really took my pills. I'd tuck them under my tongue and when it was safe, hide them in the food I didn't finish. The nurses trusted me, who knows why, so they never checked if I was taking them.

As we leave the dining room to go get dressed, we are all interrupted by a not-so-unexpected argument between Rae and Tori.

Tori called Rae, and she replied with "Yes Victoria?" Tori stepped down a couple more stairs. She asked Rae about the laundry because she wanted to wear her new shirt. Rae made a good point in saying that washing a brand new shirt didn't make any sense. Tori believed it was gross because "other people tried it on." I'd smelled the shirt the first time she'd shown it off to everyone, and no one had tried it on before her.

I ignored the rest of their spat and trooped up to my room.

It never took me long to pick out an outfit. I put on a pale yellow T-shirt and some small blue shorts. But when I looked at myself in the mirror, I shuddered. I looked just like the walls. Just add flowers and I'd disappear. I traded my yellow shirt for a green one. A little iffy, but better. I glanced at the little clock I had. It's almost nine, so I should get to class.

I didn't really go to much school before Lyle House. I'm not dumb, I just never really went to school. Mostly I'd been taught by the other werewolves I grew up around. There were three others: Jill, Bob, and Teresa. Teresa was my mom.

I blinked away a tear and hurried to the classroom.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Okay so this chapter isn't really different from the old chapter 2, I just noticed some mistakes and fixed them. Let me know if I didn't get all of them!**

The teacher never really seemed to know what to do with me. Since I didn't have any teachers, they just gave me busy work. A sheet of algebra problems, some sentence corrections…

It seemed like forever, but lunch finally came. I sat in the TV room, staring at nothing in particular. Derek and Simon snuck over to the kitchen. It blows my mind how much they can eat. Sometimes I wonder if we sent them to an all you can eat buffet, would they just eat until they threw up, or would they keep on eating after that…

I laughed a bit when I heard Chloe squeak like a mouse- must have seen Derek. Though I found her fear funny, I still got up to go make sure they weren't scaring her too much.

Chloe was peeling carrots, Derek was in the doorway and Simon was introducing his "brother."

"Yeah, identical twins," Derek was always sarcastic. I guess I am too, but not as much as him. I decided I should introduce myself too. My mind was telling me "try to be nice," and I listened to it. Even though she was a jumpy blond, Chloe was still new and since she hadn't done anything that made me angry yet, it wouldn't be fair to immediately snap at her like some people.

"I'm Vera," I said as sweetly as I could, "Well, really my name is Veronica, but I prefer Vera." I brushed passed Derek to shake her hand in greeting.

"I-I'm Chloe."

"I know." I guess she's okay. As long as she doesn't annoy me, I can see myself tolerating her.

I hear Tori coming, so I warn Simon. Derek moved out of the way as she closed the door behind her.

"Simon? Aha. I thought I heard you. You and Derek always raiding the-" She spotted Chloe. Of course she would immediately jump to the conclusion that Chloe is trying to steal Simon from her, because _everyone's_ priority is to make Tori's life a living hell…

"Tori?" said Simon.

"Yes?" It was kind of creepy how she could change her expression so quickly from absolute resentment to absolute flirtation. Simon pointed in the direction of the dining room where Mrs. Talbot was talking to Liz, and shushed her.

"Are we done here? It's getting crowded," Derek voiced his impatience. Simon held up the crackers, and the two left the kitchen. Chloe followed them, leaving me with Tori. I took the opportunity to make something clear to her.

"You know Tori, the world doesn't revolve around you. Chloe was peeling carrots, not trying to steal your crush." She glared at me, and I glared back. I smiled inside when she looked away. She didn't know what I really was, but I still intimidated her. She stormed out of the kitchen and after counting to ten I left too.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: I'm sorry I haven't updated in… forever. So, I'm trying to make up for it by adding a lot. Please tell me what you think and point out any grammar/spelling mistakes!**

I didn't have a therapy session today. I didn't get them that often since apparently I behaved relatively well.

Lunch finally came. Peter played his PSP, Liz and Tori chatted, Rae didn't show up, Derek ate a lot, and Simon tried to talk to Chloe. They talked about how they both moved a lot. The second she could, Tori piped in with something about getting a different room at her house. It was all quite boring.

Then, Simon asked her about her art school. I liked sketching, so I was mildly interested. Drawing things was fun for me, but I wasn't nearly as good at it as Simon. I rarely bothered with color, and I never created a full picture. Just an animal or two. Wolves, primarily. I like wolves, I think they're beautiful animals. I'd tried to draw myself before, but it never seemed to turn out right. When I was a wolf, my fur was a mottled brown, grey and white. My eyes would keep their nearly amber color.

Miraculously, Tori said something really interesting. "Didn't Chloe tell you why she's here? She sees dead people."

Peter thought it was cool, Simon didn't seem to have anything to say for once, but I knew what he was thinking. Derek stared at Chloe through his black hair, and I knew what he was thinking too. Chloe had to be a necromancer.

Tori asked Chloe if she could help with Liz's poltergeist, and then the table exploded into an argument. Simon called Tori a bitch for being making fun of Chloe, Liz was shouting at Tori, who started yelling apologies left and right, Derek took extra casserole, and I just sat there trying to ignore it all.

When Chloe discretely left, I itched to follow her. My ears couldn't take the yelling anymore. No one was paying attention so I got up to leave too.

I followed her scent to the door of the laundry room. I also smelled smoke so I figured Rae was down there too. I wanted to open the door to go talk to Chloe, but I felt it would be a bit odd. Instead, I just stood and listened.

They were discussing Tori, and how she always bothered Rae about her weight. Rae changed the topic to Anime, and I heard Mrs. Talbot coming. I quietly stepped back into the hallway and then into the TV room. Mrs. Talbot announced to them that class was starting soon, and Chloe volunteered to stay behind and finish the laundry. That sounded fishy to me. What teenager would want to do laundry? I wanted to see if that was what she was really going to do, but I had class.

I hurried to the classroom and did my work as quickly as I could. When I was finished, not much time had passed. I gave the teacher my sweetest smile and very politely asked to be excused early. She hesitated at first, but then let me go. I think I saw Derek roll his eyes.

I ran silently back to the laundry room and I heard her talking to herself. She said "it's locked" and I heard her jiggle a doorknob. Derek came up behind me, and for once I jumped a little. I guess was concentrating too hard on listening to Chloe.

He noticed me jump, and I mentally cursed myself. He would never let me live it down. A werewolf who can't even hear another of her kind coming up behind her.

"Maybe you should get your hearing checked," he whispered, far too quietly for any normal human ears to catch.

"One time. _One time _I'm not listening for you, jeez!" I hissed.

"Shut up."

"Excuse me? Do not tell me to-" He used one large hand to push me out into the hallway. I stumbled a bit and glared at him. But he wasn't looking at me. Chloe had left the laundry room.

"Who were you talking to?" he asked.

"Myself."

"Huh."

I backed away into the TV room, but still listened to their conversation.

"Now if you'll excuse me…" Chloe tried to get away, but Derek stepped into her path.

"You saw a ghost, didn't you?" he asked her. _Wow, aren't you discrete._

"Hate to break it to you, but there's no such thing as ghosts." Even though she laughed, I could tell she was becoming agitated, so I decided to intervene.

"Derek, if she says she's not seeing them, then she's not seeing them." I walked calmly up to them. I noticed relief in Chloe's eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

Derek wanted to go out side and get some exercise, and Simon wanted to play soccer or something. I hated soccer, and not just because I sucked at it. Besides, we had an odd number of people. Did we _have_ to play soccer? Apparently, yes.

As the three of us were walking towards the backdoor, Simon paused in the doorway of the T.V. room. Chloe was sitting on the couch. I knew she'd just had a therapy session, and apparently she was not pleased with what she was told. Simon went in to warn her not to mope around because the nurses will be upset. I turned to Derek and casually asked, "So what do you think they diagnosed her with?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Who cares?" I frowned at him, and he scowled at me. So typical. Derek moved into the doorway and Simon promised he hadn't forgotten his "brother." I peeked into the room.

"Hey, Simon. Maybe Chloe would like to come with us?" I hinted. I hoped that maybe if she were on my side in the soccer game, Simon and Derek would lose for once.

"Oh yeah. We're heading out back. Kick around the ball for our break. You're welcome to join us," Simon said. With out even waiting for her to reply, Simon walked passed Derek and me and mentioned getting Talbot to let us out. I followed him.

From behind me, I heard Chloe snap at Derek, "Take a picture, it'll last longer." Based on that, I could tell Chloe and I would get along great.

The sun felt brilliant on my pale skin. Warm and soothing. I was just starting to relax, when BAM! It took me a moment to realize what happened. Either Simon had mistaken my face for a goal, or he had kicked the ball at me on purpose.

"What the- why did you do that?" I shouted at him. He and Derek's laughter only made me angrier. I clenched my fists and growled menacingly. Derek got the message, but Simon wouldn't wipe that stupid grin off his face. I charged, but once I got within three feet of him, Derek grabbed my shoulders. I struggled for a moment before saying "God, I wouldn't _really_ hurt him!"

"No, you would only make him fit for the compost pile," rumbled Derek. I sighed. "Let go of me," I demanded, and he complied. I took a couple steps back, and sunk to my knees in the grass.

"Why didn't you just let Chloe come with us?" I whined.

"For two reasons," began Simon, "One because you look really funny when you're mad at us, and two because we need to discuss what she is." He and Derek sat down on the overly manicured lawn with me.

"What's there to discuss, we know exactly what she is. A necromancer." The way Derek said this made me shift uncomfortably. Ghosts and the dead had always bothered me, and it did not help that I knew they were as real as I was.

Now it was Simon's turn to speak. "So what should we tell her?"

"I think you mean when," stated the male werewolf. Then I had a great idea.

"Damsel in distress?!" The guys stared at me with blank faces. "What?" asked Simon. "Oh come on," I said, "She's our ticket out of here!" For a while, neither of them said anything. Finally, Derek spoke up. "No, we're not going to do that."

"What? Why not? Think about it. We could get out of here! We could find your dad, we'd be free…"

"Ok," Derek's voice was laced with sarcasm, "We'll just use the new girl to save our asses, Simon and I will find our dad… So where are you going to go?" It felt like he had physically punched me. "What…what do you mean? I'd go with you guys…"

"No. Simon and I need to find our dad. You have your own people to find, so that's what you're going to do."

I shook my head and hugged my knees. "You can't seriously be considering ditching me! Come on, Derek! You and I both know I would be a lot more helpful to have around than… than _blondie_!" I pointed at Simon.

"Hey…" he said, but I ignored him. "God, what is with you, Derek?" I said, lowering my voice. He mumbled "Nothing," and gave me a look that seemed to question my sanity. He got up to go back inside, leaving Simon and I staring at the spot where he had been.

"Don't worry, I won't ditch you…" he cautiously put his hand on my shoulder. "Yeah. Whatever," I sighed.


	5. Chapter 5

Dinner was uncomfortable, at the least. Something had happened with Liz. She had supposedly thrown a pencil at the teacher. Everyone was focused on her. Rae and Peter were trying to talk to her, and Tori was attempting to get her to eat, and Simon snuck her a juice box. Chloe was silent, and I tried to avoid eye contact with Derek. I used my fork to push around the food on my plate. I wasn't exactly hungry. Even more exciting, tonight was movie night! Yippee.

I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself. I knew Simon and Derek weren't going to watch the movie. They claimed to have a project due the next day. Rae and Chloe went to do more laundry, and there was no way I wanted to hang around Tori. I decided to sneak up to my room.

I lay flat on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. Suddenly, I itched to turn into my wolf self and run. It was frustrating, being locked up in Lyle House. I hadn't gotten a chance to Change in months, which was infuriating. It felt like wearing the same clothes, twenty-four seven, and not being able to take them off. I knew Derek had figured out a way to get out the front door with out alerting anyone. He had been going on midnight walks more and more often lately.

He thought he shouldn't Change until he was eighteen. I wasn't so sure. The wolf scent had been getting stronger on him, lately. I tried to tell him I thought he would Change soon, but he wouldn't listen to me. "Fine," I'd said, "_Don't_ listen to the only other werewolf you know. _Don't_ listen to some one who has Changed before." Many times before. Though I couldn't remember my first Change very clearly, I did remember that it was not fun. Over time, the Changes had become less and less painful. Now they seemed no worse than removing a Band-Aid…

My eyes snapped open. I had dosed off, and now I heard a loud crashing and thudding. I sprang from my bed and was about to leave my room when I realized I was still wearing normal clothes. If the nurses were awake too, they would be wondering why I wasn't in my pajamas. I reached out to my dresser, flung open the top drawer and pulled out my nightgown.

It's funny, I don't really look like the nightgown wearing type, but I couldn't imagine myself sleeping in anything else. Sweatpants and a shirt, for example, just seemed like I would get too hot, and those tiny shorts and a tank top made me feel naked. My nightgown was a pleasant lilac color with tiny pink roses.

I opened my door and silently flew down the hallway. My sensitive ears picked up whispered voices coming from Liz and Chloe's room. I pressed myself against the door, trying to figure out what was happening when Talbot stomped towards me in her ugly burgundy bathrobe.

"Why are you out of your room?" She hissed. I shrugged my shoulders. "Probably for the same reason you're up, miss." She glared at me and my snide response. With out warning, she flung open the door and slapped on the light. I was almost as shocked as she was when I saw what had happened to the room.

There was stuff everywhere. It looked like a bomb had gone off. There was broken glass, hair gel and makeup. I was struggling to piece together what might have happened.

"Veronica, go back to bed. Elizabeth, what have you done?" gasped Talbot. I ignored what she told me and just stayed there, staring. I felt Miss Van Dop come up behind me, wielding a needle. Mrs. Talbot assured Liz that they were going to get her help, and Miss Van Dop quickly sedated her.

Chloe was shooed from the room, and I was told once again to go back to bed. Naturally, Tori showed up.

"What did you do to her?" she snarled.

"Tori, please! Could you just-" I complained, but she shouted a "No!" at me, so I gave up and wandered back to my bedroom. I wondered what would happen to Liz. I wondered what would happen to Chloe. I wondered why Tori was such a bitch…

Once in my room, I slipped into bed and made myself go back to sleep.

At first, my dream was delicious and I never wanted it to end. In my dream, I was my wolf self and I was running. I felt so free and happy as my paws lightly sprang along the dew sprinkled grass. To my left was a bright blue stream, to my right a field of wildflowers. I felt like I could run forever and never tire. I stopped just for a moment to taste the stream. When I looked up, I saw a pitch-black wolf staring at me. I felt like I had seen this wolf before, but I couldn't quite place it. Suddenly, it started to growl at me. I was confused, so I took a few steps forward into the water. This made the other wolf angrier and began to snarl viscously, its bright green eyes flashing with irritation. Then, even more surprising, Chloe appeared, standing behind the black wolf. Her hands were delicately placed on its shoulder blades. Once she was there, the wolf started to relax a bit. When I felt it was safe, I took a few cautious steps forward, and a breeze floated towards me, carrying an all too familiar scent.


	6. Chapter 6

When I woke up, I was nearly late for breakfast. Tori didn't join us and although I couldn't stand her, I understood. Liz had been pretty much her only friend at Lyle House and she was gone. I felt bad for Chloe. I could tell she thought Liz would come back. There was a feeling in the pit of my stomach that we would never see her again.

Our morning lessons went by in a blur. Break came, and Simon and Derek made their usual trip to the kitchen pantry. I trailed behind them quietly, still angry with Derek's quick decision that once we got out of Lyle House I would go find my family on my own. Of course I did not like the idea of them ditching me at all, that's only natural. But I still couldn't quite figure out why I was so desperate to stay with them.

Simon took granola bars, but Derek told him it would probably be best if he had an apple. Simon managed his diabetes very well on his own, but every once-in-a-while he needed a little reminder not to eat too much sugar. Simon said he was fine, so Derek dropped it.

"It would be better if you talked about it," Said Simon. For a second I thought he was talking to me and I opened my mouth to say that nothing was wrong, but then I noticed he was looking at Chloe and therefore referring to the Liz incident. When she didn't say anything, Derek prompted her with a "Well?"

Chloe said Rae was waiting for her and left, leaving the three of us in the kitchen. Simon moved towards Derek and said "Something happened." Derek agreed and they looked at me, expecting me to say something.

When I didn't, Simon asked "What, not talking to us now?"

"Hmm…" I murmured.

"Look, I'm sorry I kicked the ball at your face. I didn't really mean for it to hit you."

I shook my head. "Simon, I forgive _you_." Out of the corner of my vision, I saw Derek roll his eyes. I bit my bottom lip and left the kitchen.

I went to sit in the T.V. room when I noticed a minivan pull up in front of the house. _Lucky you_, I thought. I gazed through the gauzy curtains as Peter's parents walked up the path to the front door. One of the nurses let them in and we had a tiny party with frostless carrot cake. Yum. I waved absentmindedly as he left, not really caring since I never really talked to him anyways.

Class started up again and all I could think about was how much time we had left until it was over. Derek had gone to work on his scary super advanced math and Chloe's teacher still hadn't sent over any work so she wasn't in class either.

I hated math more than anything. I would try to finish the problems as quickly as I could and then use the margins of the paper as a sketch pad. I wasn't really paying attention and before I realized it, I had drawn the black wolf from my dream. I liked this drawing and was very proud of it. Usually, I would erase the drawings once I was done with them, but I liked this one too much. I carefully ripped off the corner of the paper it was on and shoved it in my jeans pocket. When it came time to turn our work in, Ms. Wang looked at me funny and asked me what happened to my paper.

"Oh it just ripped," I said. She didn't look too happy. Oh well. When I got back to my seat, Chloe and Derek came back into the room. He sat down next to Simon and whispered something that made Simon laugh. I noticed Chloe furrow her brow.

Lastly we had English and then finally class was over. Everyone dispersed to do their homework. Tori made a bee-line for her room, and Rae and Chloe disappeared into the dining room. Simon invited me to do homework with him and Derek. I didn't feel like being alone, but I didn't feel like being with Derek either. I was about to say that I'd rather just do my homework by myself when he said that his brother had sort of told Chloe what she was and that we needed to talk about it.

"Why do we need to talk about it?" I asked, honestly confused. Ok, so Derek told Chloe she was a necromancer. And…? What were we going to talk about? How she reacted? If she even cared?

"Just come on," he went behind me and playfully tried to push me in the direction of his room.

I laughed a little and said "Okay, okay, I'll come." That was the nice thing about Simon. He could almost always cheer you up.

The guy's room was, well, a guy's room. There were socks and other various articles of clothing strewn about on the ground. One wall near Simon's bed was plastered with drawings far better than any of mine. Derek was on his bed doing homework.

"Vera's here," announced Simon, "So now you two are going to kiss and make up."

I wrinkled my nose in mock disgust. "You can't pay me enough to kiss _him_," I said. Derek looked up from his textbook. "I'll second that."

Simon threw his hands up in the air. "You know what I mean!"

"Okay," I gave in, "But he says sorry first." I crossed my arms, waiting. Derek gave an exasperated sigh and got up off his bed.

"Fine, we won't ditch you. Not right away, anyways, but you will have to find your family eventually, right?" I nodded my head very slightly in agreement, but I wasn't sure how to tell him that I knew where my family was, but that it didn't really matter. The old familiar ache came to my throat, threatening to bring tears with it. _No,_ My mind scolded, and I swallowed my sadness. Derek narrowed his eyes very slightly.

"So," I changed the subject, "Chloe's been told she's a necromancer."

"Yep," Said Simon, "So what do we do next? I mean, making her look it up on the internet isn't enough."

"One of us needs to talk to her," I agreed. Simon and I simultaneously turned to Derek. He and Simon knew more about supernaturals than I, but Simon was really bad at explaining things.

"You're wasting your time. She has no interest in talking to me." Derek had a point. The three of us sat and thought in silence, until Derek got an idea. "We'll write a letter from Simon, ask her to meet him somewhere. I don't know, the laundry room? And I'll just go in Simon's place." I nodded, agreeing that the plan should work. Simon wrote the note and I slipped it under her bedroom door. Derek would meet Chloe at seven fifteen.

I went to my own room after dinner. I'd finished my homework after I had planted Chloe's note and didn't really have much to do. I remembered the sketch I still had in my pocket. I pulled it out and tried to smooth out the wrinkles. It was a little smudged, which annoyed me. I held it closer to my face. It bothered me how familiar the wolf looked. I looked at the clock. Seven, Chloe and Derek would be meeting soon. I took my picture over to my dresser and hid it in a sock.


	7. Chapter 7

At ten after seven, I decided I would see if I could find anything worth eating in the kitchen pantry. I found some gram crackers and munched on a couple before replacing the box and drifting out into the hallway. I was just walking passed the laundry room door when it flew open, almost hitting me, and Chloe flying up the stairs, clutching her arm. Slightly alarmed, I moved into the doorway and looked down the perfectly white stairs to see Derek very angrily stomping up towards me.

"What hap-"

"Move." Derek used his large forearm to shove me out of his way. The force of it caused me to stumble backwards and have to catch my breath. If I were a normal human, I would probably be winded and lying on the floor. I stared as he went up to his room, probably to talk to Simon. I would have followed, but I had a feeling this was probably something he didn't want to talk to me about.

He needed to get out of the house. I could sense it. I knew he could get out of the front door if he wanted to, so why didn't he?

"What ever," I whispered to myself. Even if I did tell him I thought he should go outside and run or something, he wouldn't listen to me anyways. "Stubborn mule."

At around quarter to eight, Mrs. Talbot set out some carrot sticks and dip. Carrots weren't exactly my favorite vegetable, but my stomach still begged for them. Talbot offered Chloe and Rae the sticks and they each took one with some dip.

"Chloe and I were thinking, Mrs. T," Rae said. "About Tori." When Talbot set the platter down on the edge of the dining room table, I grabbed two carrot sticks and ate them while listening to Rae and Chloe ask Mrs. Talbot if Rae could move into Chloe's room. Talbot agreed. The two quickly ran to Rae and Tori's room while the bitch was watching television.

I stood there munching on carrot after carrot. Talbot noticed and said "Wow you are hungry, aren't you?" I pretended not to hear her and finally she left to go do what ever it is she does.

I felt a bit disappointed when Rae and Chloe decided to share a room. No, I didn't know either of them very well, but sometimes I did get lonely. Now that Chloe sort of knew what she really was, I had all the more reason to get to know her better.

With my ears, I could faintly hear them talking overhead. I strained to hear more clearly when I heard one of them mention Simon's name. Immediately interested, I craned my neck towards the ceiling.

"Hey, you like him. That's fine," said Rae as she slid open a drawer. Wait, Chloe likes Simon? I rolled my eyes. Of course she does. What girl, well, besides myself, doesn't like Simon! It felt like every girl loved him based on what I knew about his past.

"It's not Simon, it's Derek." _Huh?_ No, that means they can't be talking about who Chloe likes. Cruel, but most likely true.

"Derek? You like-" asked the astounded Rae, almost mimicking my own thoughts.

"God, no," said Chloe, "I meant Derek's the one I'm checking out- and not _that_ way." I bit my lip, trying to kill a smile of laughter at how repulsed she sounded. Then I thought about the second thing she said. Checking out? Like… a background check…

"Records…" I whispered to myself. Then, I panicked. I wasn't sure what they kept on those records. Would they mention what Derek really was? Chloe had already been told she was a necromancer, but that was the only real information she had. If she was going to find out what he really was, then he needed to know.

Before I knew it, I was fleeing from the kitchen to the guys' room.


	8. Chapter 8

03/06/2009 18:08:00

I impatiently knocked on the door. After probably a hundred knocks, Simon said "Who is it?"

"Come on, just let me in! It's kind of important," I hissed, my mouth nearly touching the door. I heard him get up and walk over to let me inside. But instead of opening the door all the way, he just stuck his head out.

"So what is it?" he asked.

"What is this? Just let me in!"

Simon glanced over his shoulder for a brief moment before saying "It's kind of late, Vera… Maybe you should just go to bed…"

"Simon! It's like, what, eight? Damn it, let me in the room!" I was growing frustrated. He looked over his shoulder again, muttered "fine" and opened the door the rest of the way.

He closed it behind me and went back over to his bed where he had been working on a drawing. I looked around the room and noticed something was missing.

"Hey, where's Derek?" As I waited for Simon's answer I gave the room a good but subtle sniff. He _had_ been here. Probably not too long ago either.

"Dunno," said the ever so helpful Simon. "So why weren't you letting me in…?" I asked. He shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't want you freaked out too. It's bad enough having one angry werewolf around, please don't make me deal with you _and_ Derek!" I stifled a growl, not wanting to prove his point.

"Well," I said, "I guess I'll just have to tell _you_. Chloe and Rae are going check your brother's file tonight." At first, Simon looked slightly worried, but then calmed. "So?" he said. This only made me more frustrated.

"_So_," I said through gritted teeth, "We don't know what they put on those files. What if it talks about him being a werewolf?"

"Do you honestly think they'd be that stupid?" rumbled a voice behind me. I started. Once again, Derek had managed to sneak up on me. I heard a very faint laugh after I had jumped. I spun around to face him.

"You- you! Ugh! Where have you been?" I demanded, glaring. He ignored me, not saying anything. He walked over to his bed, throwing a look at Simon that read "why the hell did you let _her_ in here?"

I sighed. "Derek, Chloe and Rae are going to look up your file." though his gaze seemed serene, I could see anxiety behind his eyes.

"Yeah, so I've heard. You know, you talk pretty loudly." I bit my tongue, not letting myself snap at his bait. He was just trying to avoid the topic of the file. Probably trying to make me angry enough to leave.

"And you're not the least bit concerned?" I growled, exasperated.

"No, not really. The people here probably assume we would try stuff like that. I mean, it's not like they hide the keys very well. The files are probably decoys." I considered what he said, but then shook my head.

"But what if they're not? If it does say you are what you are, Chloe and Rae will undoubtedly look up everyone else!" I gestured to myself and Simon. Still, Derek showed no sign of agreeing with me.

"Well," he began again, "the worst they'll probably find out about me is the stuff with the Albany kid. Even if they do look at the other files, I'm the only one with something worth hiding." Simon nodded his head in agreement. That was it, I'd had enough of them.

With my hand resting on the doorknob, I looked over my shoulder.

"Are you, Derek?"


End file.
